Halloween weekend

What a busy weekend! Friday morning started off with an early morning track for Noel, to find a deer that had been shot with a bow the evening before. It was a tough track with very little blood and it took Noel a little while, but she succeeded and found the deer. Unfortunately coyotes had gotten to it first. I was very proud of this find because it was the toughest deer track we've run, and it would have been a really tough find for the hunter without the help of the dog. She never quits working. It's amazing to me how she took to this so easily - we're only able to practice a few times a year during hunting season.

Friday night was our annual kids Halloween party, which consisted of 10 boys staying overnight at our house. First was the tour through the haunted barn, then the night scavenger hunt, topped off with Frankenstein's dungeon (aka our basement). The kids all had a great time, finally fell asleep at 1am and were up at 6 to play football. After the boys were all picked up Sat morning it was clean up time, then nap time for us!

Sunday morning started off with another deer track. This time the track was very fresh with plenty of blood. The scent was so strong for Noel that she was all over the place on the track but easily found the deer within a few minutes. Most of the deer tracks we've run have been between 12-24 hours old, this was only 1-2. I've noticed during our regular tracking training (tracking human scent) that Noel is often less accurate when the scent is really fresh and in ideal tracking conditions (cool, wet, no wind). I think the scent becomes overwhelming to her, although she always finds what we're looking for.

Yesterday afternoon I met a friend at Aase Haugen home to make a dog therapy visit during their trick or treating time. Eva came along in her pumpkin costume. I brought Noah, who was a gentleman as always, and my friend had her two Pomeranians Sable and Gracie, who are both registered therapy dogs. The dogs were a hit with the residents and kids, especially since they were in costume, and brought a lot of smiles. I think Eva got just as many smiles as the dogs though. :-)